While what exactly needs to change about the current laws dealing with sex offenders and predators is still up for debate, there is a consensus forming that change needs to happen.
State lawmakers joined with an extensive panel of experts representing law enforcement, the State Attorney’s Office, victim’s advocates, DCF, mental health and more to tackle the problems in Florida law. This was the first of several meetings State Representative Janet Adkins plans to call on her road to drafting new legislation for the upcoming session.
Adkins’ call for change began earlier this summer after 8-year-old Cherish Perrywinkle was abducted and murdered. The suspect is a convicted sex offender who had been released from jail only a few weeks prior and had been checked on by police the morning of the abduction.
Cherish’s mother, Rayne spoke during the public comment at the end of the meeting telling the panel to open their eyes and questioning why change hasn’t been done before,
“I pity the next mom that’s gunna be on TV in the next few weeks, the next few months, say a year from now,” she says.
State Senator Audrey Gibson says the more she’s learned about the Perrywinkle case, the more she’s convinced something was missed in the suspect’s follow-up. She’s questioning why the suspect, Donald Smith, was considered a sex offender and not a predator.
“Some things that we need to look at to make sure that we have the categories right,” she says.
A representative from the State Attorney’s Office says the differences between the two categories is that a predator has committed an offense that could give him or her a more than 30 year sentence and that person has a prior offense. This is a more serious classification than offender. State Senator Aaron Bean joined Gibson’s concern that those classifications may not be exactly where they need to be.
“We’re always scared to just pass new laws when existing laws aren’t being followed, but it seems like there are things we can do to make our community safer,” he says.
Classification is just one of the ideas Adkins tells me she is taking out of this hearing. Another area she’s concerned about is community supervision once an offender is released.
“The concept that community supervision really just mean address verification, let’s call it what it is,” she says.
She also mirrors the call of many of the experts to possible have risk assessment done on every offender and predator before they’re released in order to best tailor the treatment and supervision warranted when they are out.
“We will continue on this mission,” she says.
Gibson questioned whether the options they’re considering should in fact include release. After she asked if there is in fact a “cure” for these convicts, multiple experts said no. A thought Perrywinkle agreed with, and criticized as an excuse for why many get out of jail.
“They don’t fantasize about children anymore? That’s’ a lie,” she says.
But on the other end of the spectrum, two convicted offenders spoke as well. They classify themselves as non-violent now and not a risk to the community, and they called on lawmakers to remember that the changes they make affect all ends of the spectrum.
Adkins is planning on filing legislation in the upcoming session. She couldn’t say at this time which of these ideas mentioned might evolve to be the central focus, but tells me she is looking forward to having more of these hearings and continuing to learn about new concerns you have.